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Hello. I am wanting to buy a home soon but have several question about getting started. Okay I have little to nothing to pay down. However, I already outright own my current home and 4.3 acres but have never purchased a home before. The house I currently live in was part of 8.6 acres with 2 houses on it and was my grandparents. When they died my mom got the houses and the land which she promptly split and signed over to me and my brother. Again it's paid for so I owe nothing. I am also not selling it either.

I want to move to Florida. I have been looking for a while and finally found a house that I like. The house I have found is listed at 64,000. It needs the 2 bathrooms redone, new flooring, new countertops, maybe appliances, and it's got a 2 car carport that I would want to add onto and make into a either a 4 car tandem parking garage, or just enclose it and have a 2 car garage. So around 125000 would pay for the house, the work I want to do to it and would leave me enough to pay off a couple of my larger monthly bills.

Is it possible that I can use both properties as equity on the same loan? This would cover the overage of the loan. And does it matter that the house and 4.3 acres are in TN and the other is in FL?

Also where do I need to start? Should I try to get pre-approved 1st or choose a realtor 1st?

Also, living in TN and search in FL is difficult. Would you guys ever buy a house without first personally touring the house? I'm thinking if I choose a realtor I can always get the realtor to do a facetime or video tour of the house with me? The only way for me to actually look at a house would be to wait 47 days until I go down there for vacation and I'm scared that house I am looking at won't still be available. I really have no idea where to start. So any advice you can give me is greatly appreciated.

And please please please don't tell me that I don't want to move to FL. I do, I know I do. Lots of people have tried to talk me out of it for years and it's still all I can think about.

Also, I currently work 2 jobs. It shouldn't be too hard to transfer 1 job to FL but the other is out of the question so I'd have to find another almost as soon as I get there. Not a real issue because my 2nd job is assistant manager at a gas station. I'm very confident I will be able to find a job at a gas station in FL if I find it necessary.

Would you guys ever buy a house without first personally touring the house? I'm thinking if I choose a realtor I can always get the realtor to do a facetime or video tour of the house with me? The only way for me to actually look at a house would be to wait 47 days until I go down there for vacation and I'm scared that house I am looking at won't still be available.

You would rather spend $64,000 on a house unknown than spend $400 on plane tickets, take 1 day off and fly to florida, tour the home and the neighborhood, then fly back to Tennessee on the same day?

Suggestion? Figure out how much money you have to spend on a mortgage, then use that for a year as house rent in florida. If you still like florida you will no doubt have been able to ask people about good deals in real estate that are available. When you find a good deal, get in touch with a national lender and see if there is a way to use your TN home as collateral for a loan.

If you can't rent a house/apartment in florida for that first year (because of pets for example), then rent/buy an RV and live for a year at an RV park.

Hello. I am wanting to buy a home soon but have several question about getting started. Okay I have little to nothing to pay down. However, I already outright own my current home and 4.3 acres but have never purchased a home before. The house I currently live in was part of 8.6 acres with 2 houses on it and was my grandparents. When they died my mom got the houses and the land which she promptly split and signed over to me and my brother. Again it's paid for so I owe nothing. I am also not selling it either.I assume this is one parcel and the current home is "on" 4.3 acres and not 2 different parcels, one with a house and another of 4.3 acres.

I want to move to Florida. I have been looking for a while and finally found a house that I like. The house I have found is listed at 64,000. It needs the 2 bathrooms redone, new flooring, new countertops, maybe appliances, and it's got a 2 car carport that I would want to add onto and make into a either a 4 car tandem parking garage, or just enclose it and have a 2 car garage. So around 125000 would pay for the house, the work I want to do to it and would leave me enough to pay off a couple of my larger monthly bills.

I wouldn't plan to mortgage enough for all the work to be done at once. If the bathrooms are usable and it isn't essential to enclose the carport immediately, then save the money to do each project when you have saved enough to get them done or do the work yourself.

Is it possible that I can use both properties as equity on the same loan? This would cover the overage of the loan. And does it matter that the house and 4.3 acres are in TN and the other is in FL?

Also where do I need to start? Should I try to get pre-approved 1st or choose a realtor 1st? Find a good BUYERS' agent AND go talk with a bank that has offices in both states, if you can.

Also, living in TN and search in FL is difficult. Would you guys ever buy a house without first personally touring the house? I'm thinking if I choose a realtor I can always get the realtor to do a facetime or video tour of the house with me? The only way for me to actually look at a house would be to wait 47 days until I go down there for vacation and I'm scared that house I am looking at won't still be available. I really have no idea where to start. So any advice you can give me is greatly appreciated.
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I did just that - bought a house sight unseen. But that is not what I would recommend. We have the skills to do most any project - or to act as the contractor and sub out the specific work. Also, when we bought our retirement property, we didn't care about the house just so long as it was livable - our main concern was the property. I also had an agent whose opinion I trusted and her skills as a photographer were excellent. She followed my instructions on filming to the letter and we knew what we were getting. You can also use google.earth to see the house and neighborhood as well as check the local tax records and tax maps online.

Instead of trying to finance both properties in a single transaction, why not take out a HELOC on your equity in the Tennessee loan and use the funds for a large enough downpayment on the second home to help you qualify for a loan there.

Another option that could work for you is a 1031 RE exchange. Locating a Florida rental owner who is willing to trade a property you want, for your Tennessee property will not be easy, but, it can be done.

Get a mortgage on your house you do own, pulling out some for another house.

I know of people scratching their heads at how someone got a loan against two properties at once in the same city...let alone in two different states. It was a portfolio loan from a small private lender company. It was set up so that separate payments were made for each property. So when one house was not being paid for....how to foreclose against one house when the loan was tied to two properties.

Do you even know if you CAN get a HELOC on the property mom gave you? (BTW, did anybody check with a lawyer about that to assure there are no gift tax or other legal tangles! I sure hope so.). Do you have good credit? Were it mne, I'd pop down to my bank and see if they would even give me the HELOC. If they say no, the escape to Florida will be long delayed.

Like jghorton said, HELOC was the first thing to come to my mind. If your home can be appraised for around $200k, then the bank should lend you at least $150k which you can use to essentially buy the FL home and all the repairs in cash. If your TN home is not worth that much, then you'll have to come up with some money on your own from savings or whatever to cover the gap. Almost no way you can get the home in FL via conventional financing...you'd have to have an experienced contractor with a strong history and then find a bank willing to do a construction or renovation loan.

Definitely fly down to take a look before purchasing...at that price point it could be a huge steal or a huge scam depending on where in FL.

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